


Birthday Wishes and Misses

by Fallen_Ark_Angel



Series: Remember Me [24]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 14:09:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4103754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallen_Ark_Angel/pseuds/Fallen_Ark_Angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes it's the thought that counts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Wishes and Misses

  


"Laxus?"

"Hmmm?"

"How come you don't have any talents?"

That made the slayer frown and glance up from his newspaper and across the table. His oldest daughter, Haven, was sitting there, staring very pointedly at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Mom can play the guitar," she said. "And Elfman's real strong and can break things. Aunt Ever can do makeup real well. And Bickslow can do acrobatic stuff. And-"

"What about it?"

"Why don't you have any talents?"

Glaring at her, he went back to the his newspaper. "Don't you have chores or something to do?"

"How come, Daddy?"

That was from his other daughter, Marin, who was sitting at his side, eating a bowl of cereal.

"How come what?"

"You don't got any talent?"

"Girls," Mirajane giggled from her seat on his other side. "Laxus has plenty of talent. Leave him alone. Before he shows you one."

"What?" Haven asked.

"His ability to throw a fit over anything and everything."

Growling, he tossed the paper down. "Why do you guys always pick on me?"

"See?"

"What's your talent, Haven?" her sister asked, staring at her with round, blue eyes.

"I don't have any  _one_  talent, Marin," she retorted before holding her head up higher. "I'm skilled in many different things."

"Oh, brother," Laxus grumbled as Mira just smiled, looking over at her youngest then.

"And what's yours then, sweetie?" she asked the girl who glanced at Laxus before at her mother.

"Um…I don't have one."

"Of course you do."

"No." Shaking her head, she was quick to say, "I don't wanna not have one. I gotta learn one."

"Yeah," Haven agreed with a nod. "Unless you wanna end up like Laxus."

"I didn't hear you handing down a talent either, brat!"

"Laxus," Mira sighed with a roll of her eyes. To Marin though, she said, "You draw really pretty."

"You think so?"

"Uh-huh. You-"

"No." Her sister was quite the downer. "You don't."

"Haven," Laxus warned, but she just stuck her tongue out at him.

"She doesn't. That means that Mom's lying. And you're not supposed to lie." With that, she jumped up to go put her own bowl in the sink. "I'm going to go find Locke or Navi. And no, Marin, you can't come."

"You could try asking permission," Laxus remarked.

"Fine, Laxus. Can Marin not come?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

But she was already rushing off to go get her shoes and, well, like with most of Haven's behavioral issues, Laxus let it slide. Mainly because he wasn't interested in dealing with it.

"What do you wanna do today, Marin?" Mirajane asked as she went back to her toast. "Are you gonna come to the guild with me?"

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "I wanna go see Kai."

Laxus grunted. Better than her bothering him all day up at the hall.

"I'm sure Daddy can walk you over there."

That made him frown at his wife. "Why are you sure of that?"

"Because I said so."

Oh. Right. Duh. Silly him.

So that's how they set out some time later, after he and Marin had both gotten ready for the day. She had her bangs up that day, like her mother, and was very happy about that. Plus she got to go somewhere with her father.

She really loved him.

"Why do you wanna go play with Kai today, Marin?" her father asked as they left the house. She was quick to reach up and grab his hand, holding tightly to it. After all, you always held hands when you left.

Always.

"'cause I always do," she said as she bounced along, jostling his hand in the process.

"That's my point though," he said. "Don't you ever wanna do something else? I mean, I swear, you never play with Locke and Navi anymore."

"They're Haven's friends."

"They're your friends too, aren't they?"

"Mmmm… Kai's my friend. And Ravan." Glancing up at him then, she asked, "Don't you like 'em?"

"They're alright, I guess."

They'd been at the guild for quite a few months at that point and, finally, most of the drama with their arrival had blown over. As everyone in the guild had short attention spans to begin with, most seemed to put it out of their minds that they had come originally to do harm to Erza and instead took them more as the woman's little charges. Other than when the older one was fighting with Haven (it happened at least once a week) they caused very little fuss and were easy to forget about.

For everyone other than Laxus. He still was a tad suspicious of them and, though he was a man that believe heavily in second chances, he didn't like the blades that the older one wielded. Especially if they were being used around his youngest daughter. She was just a baby…who had a lacrima in her and could, probably, fend for herself, maybe, but why risk it?

Because Mirajane insisted.

"She finally has her own friends, Laxus," his wife would say frequently. "Ones that she made all by herself. You're not going to ruin that."

Blah, blah, blah.

"Well, I like 'em," Marin said, going back to swinging their hands. "Daddy."

"I know."

"Did you wanna stay and play?"

"No, Marin. I have to go and take care of some stuff down at the guildhall."

"Are you gonna look for a talent too?"

That made him frown before glancing down at her. "I'm not…missing one. I just-"

"It's okay, Daddy."

"No, it's not okay. Because I am talented. Way more talented than anyone else!"

And he was, damn it.

Marin was happy when they got to Erza's to find the boys outside. Ravan was busy training with his swords while his younger brother, Kai, was playing with some toy cars in the grass.

"You missed breakfast," was all Kai said as she rushed over to go sit with him. "Ravan had to make it."

"Why?" she asked as her father, after making sure she was fine, turned to leave. "Where's Erza?"

"I dunno," he said with a shrug. "She's been actin' funny, I think, but Ravan just said it's because she's afraid of-"

"All the power I've been accumulating," the older boy called over to them, a fierce snarl on his face. "And she has good reason to be."

"That makes sense," Marin whispered.

"Na-ah," Kai said with a shake of his head as he handed her a car to play with. "Erza's teachin' him the magic and how to fight with his weapons. So why would she be scared of it? It doesn't make-"

"Shut up, Kai," his brother growled over at him. It had been an adjustment for the older boy, getting used to his brother's new name, but he threatened to stop calling him by Ravan if he didn't take to it and, well, he did have a reputation to uphold. "You stupid little brat."

"How has she been acting funny?" Marin asked, more to keep them from fighting than actual interest. "Kai?"

"Well," he said slowly, as if thinking. "Her workouts have been real long recently."

"They're always long," Ravan remarked. Apparently, he wasn't jumping on the Erza's lost it bandwagon. "Stupid."

"I'm not stupid!" With a frown, the younger boy said, "She usually isn't gone for more than an hour and a half. Now she might be gone for two or more. For all three workouts! And she hasn't even eaten any sweets all week. Not even cookies."

"You just care about that because it means you haven't had any either," his brother accused.

"So?" Going on, Kai said, "I'm just worried about her."

"Really?" Marin asked to which he nodded.

"She's my friend," he told her. "I'd care if you were actin' funny."

"Well, what are you gonna do?"

"I dunno," he said with a shrug.

"You could always, gee, I dunno," Ravan complained as he stopped with his practice swings of his sword to turn and face them, "try asking her? But no, that's just too simple."

"Yeah." Kai wasn't too good with sarcasm. "You're right."

"I know," Marin said then, sitting up real tall. "We could ask my mommy."

"Why?"

"She knows everything about everyone," Marin told him.

"Really? Everything?"

Nodding, she said, "It's 'cause she waters them."

"Waters them?"

"She's trying to say waitresses to them," Ravan grumbled. "Because she eavesdrops on everything, she means."

"Oh," Kai giggled. "We can ask her then."

But they all had to wait for Erza to get home before they went anywhere. Mainly for Marin's sake, as she wasn't allowed to roam around town like the other children. And Ravan and Kai were always nice about that. Not like her older sister, who, honestly, not a year ago had the same restriction.

"Ah, Marin," Erza greeted when she showed up to find them all still playing outside. "It is always nice to see you."

"Erza, can we go to the guild today?" Kai jumped up at the sight of her, taking his toys with him as he followed her into the house, the youngest Dreyar girl following. "I gotta talk to Mrs. Master."

"About what?"

"I dunno."

"Well, if you do not know, why must you-"

"You always go," he pointed out. "Are you really not gonna?"

"I will eventually," she sighed. 'But I just got home. Go do something else for now. We can leave later."

"Fine," he groaned, following her right into the kitchen where she was headed to get a drink of water. "What do you wanna do until then?"

"I," she said, not glancing back at him, "am going to go take a nice shower. Then I am going to make myself some break- What have you two done?"

"We made ourselves breakfast too," Kai said excitedly as Erza just stared at the stack of plates in the sink, the stove being littered with a fry pan and some other trash. "We made eggs…and when those burned, we mad more eggs…and more…then we tried out toast…and pancakes…but those were hard-"

"Ravan!" Erza turned then to head back out of the kitchen. "Get in here!"

"Uh-oh. Come on, Marin," Kai led her immediately to his bedroom then. "We better stay in here for awhile."

"You should have cleaned up," she told him with a giggle as they put his cars away. "You were bad."

"Erza will get over it," he said with a shrug. "We're always bad."

"-not a maid, Ravan," they heard Erza complaining then from somewhere else in the house. "And I am not related to the two of you. I am not here to wait on you. You are merely staying in my guest room. That is all. You-"

"I said I'm cleaning it up, okay? Sheesh."

Marin and Kai just giggled from the bedroom though, listening as they went to work finding something else to do. He had a couple of action figures too, which they figured would keep their interest until it was time to go.

Which they did. And, when an hour or so later Erza called out she was leaving, Kai and Marin were quick to follow. Ravan too, though he was still mad that Erza had made him clean up all that mess, by himself.

"Where were you, brat?" he grumbled softly to his brother. "Huh?"

"Uh, playing," he said with a shrug. "Erza didn't ask me to clean up, you know. I had to keep Marin entertained."

No one fun was at the guild that day, it seemed, though Kai and Marin did have to stop over and say hi to her father. He was, as always, busy with something and only patted her on the head.

Then they went to go bother her mother.

"Hi, Mommy," she greeted as they clambered onto stools at the bar. Mirajane was quick to smile at them.

"Hi," she greeted from behind the bar, where she'd been most of the day. The guild hadn't been very busy for some reason. "What are you two doing?"

"We came to ask you something," Kai said. "And to get juice. Look. Ravan even gave me some money."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a bill, which he laid on the table, just to seem important. And Mirajane knew she probably should have told him that it was only enough to buy him something to drink, and not Marin, but didn't want to embarrass him. Besides, she would have given them something anyhow.

"Why'd he give you money?" Marin asked.

"He takes so many jobs now," the boy said with a shrug, "that sometimes he gives me some."

"Haven never gives me anything."

"That's why you have me and Ravan, remember?" He smiled at her. "Brothers are always better than sisters. Always."

Mirajane was back with their drinks then and asked, "What did you want from me then, kids?"

After taking a sip of his drink, Kai said, "You know how Erza thinks of me as her best friend that, like, ever lived?"

Mira blinked. "I've never heard her say that, but I'll take your word for it."

"Well," he went on. "I noticed that she's been actin' funny."

"Funny how?" Mirajane's mind immediately went a number of places. Was she cheating on Jellal? Had they broken up? Were they secretly married? Was she…pregnant?

She decided on the last one. Which was really bittersweet. She was happy for Erza (about the thing that she'd totally made up in her own mind), but also jealous. About how their normal relationship ran.

"Like she practices for a long time," Kai went on, not knowing that Mira was already planning what the baby would look like and how soon she could convince Laxus that she needed another, to compete with not only Lucy anymore, but also Erza. "And she doesn't eat lots of candy and stuff, which sucks, 'cause that means that she doesn't buy it. Which means I can't eat it. Which-"

"None of this sounds too crazy to me," Mirajane sighed, glancing back at him. Or like she was knocked up. "At all."

"Well, it does to me," he insisted. "She's real strict with her schedule and she's breaking it to train more! That's no good. That means that we got even less time to play together."

Marin glanced at the boy before at her mother. "He really likes Erza."

"So you don't know of anything?" Kai asked. "Nothing that could be wrong with her?"

"Well," Mirajane said slowly, thinking then of less drastic things and more basic ones. "I mean, maybe she just misses Jellal."

"Maybe."

"But they've lived this way for many years," she went on. "So- Oh, I know. It's her birthday soon."

"Really?" Kai glanced over at where the woman was sitting with Gray and Juvia. "Erza has birthdays?"

"Everyone has birthdays," Marin giggled.

Nodding, the girl's mother said, "Erza's is a little more…special though."

"What do you mean?" Kai asked.

"Well," she said slowly, "she didn't rightly remember when hers was when she first got here. The date, I mean, so she picked one."

"You can do that?" The boy's face lit up. "I want today to be my birthday!"

"Okay," Marin agreed. "What-"

"No," Mira told them with a giggle. "It doesn't work that way."

"If it's her birthday," Kai began as he glanced over at her, "why is she acting funny?"

"I dunno," Mirajane said with a slight shrug. "And that's not for a few more days, anyways."

"I'mma get her a gift," Kai said with a nod. "I'll ask Ravan for some more money and then… Oh, yeah."

"Oh, yeah, what?" Marin asked.

"He won't give it to me if he knows it's for Erza." Then he groaned, moving to lay his head down on the bar. "And I already spent what I did have on our juice!"

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"If it makes you feel better," Mirajane told him slowly. "I don't think you could have bought much for that anyways."

"Even worse." Sniffling some, he asked, "What should I do?"

"Erza didn't tell you that it was her birthday," Marin pointed out. "So maybe you shouldn't anything. Maybe she doesn't want you to know."

"Why wouldn't she want me to know?"

"Sometimes," Mira said, "when you get older, birthday's aren't as much fun."

"Why not?" He glanced at her. "Because it means you're old?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Erza doesn't look old though," he pointed out, glancing over at her again. "She looks…like Erza."

"Sometimes reality and inner feelings can be polar opposites."

"Mmmm…Come on, Marin." He took his juice before jumping down. "I think you're mom's too smart for us."

That made Mirajane's day because, honestly, no one ever said that about her. Ever.

"Mira, their children," Laxus complained when she rushed over to tell him. "I'd hope you could outsmart them."

"You just don't get it, Lax," she complained as she refilled his beer.

"Maybe not."

"No one ever calls me smart."

With a roll of his eyes, he glanced up at her and said, "You're way smarter than me, demon."

"Aw." That he got a kiss and a request. "I've been thinking a lot more about this next baby thing-"

"And I'm going back to work," he said, shoving her away from his table. "Goodbye now."

Marin and Kai were heading over to Erza about then, which was great timing, as Gray was getting up, which meant Juvia was too, and it left them with the whole other side of the table. And a chance to speak in private.

"Hi, Erza," Marin greeted as the woman just nodded at them both.

"We've come to talk," Kai said. "About something serious."

"Serious," she repeated. "Okay, well, what-"

"If there was something that was coming up soon," he began, "in, say, a few days and you were wanting something, what would that something be? On the budget of, oh, a little boy whose brother hasn't been out on a job in two weeks?"

"I can hear you," Ravan growled from where he was, in fact, looking over the board that very minute.

Erza just frowned though. "Come again?"

"He wants to know what to buy you," Marin giggled. "If he needed to buy you something that is."

"Why would you need to buy me something, Kai? Ever?"

"Well," he said slowly. "We're friends. And if something was coming up-"

"Coming up?"

"-and you needed me to buy you something, then I would," he said.

Frowning at him then, she asked, "What exactly do you know?"

He frowned right back. "What am I not supposed to know?"

"Kai-"

"Don't worry," he said then, grinning. "I'll figure it out on my own. Unless… You don't wanna loan me some money, do you?"

Not smiling even a bit, she said simply, "No. I do not. And honestly, I am sure that there are other things for you to be focusing on now besides me, yes?"

"Like what?"

"Like your magic," she told him. "Until it has improved a great deal, you will not be going out on jobs. Not to mention your maturity level-"

"If you're not going to mention it, why are you still talking about it?"

"Kai," Marin giggled as he jus stared at Erza.

With a shake of her head, the woman said simply, "Now you are annoying me."

"Sorry."

"Go find something other to do than bother me. You have a whole guildhall to yourselves, practically. Everyone is out. Surely the two of you can find something fun to do."

"Surely," Kai agreed before jumping down from his seat. "Come on, Marin. We got work to do."

"Bye, Erza," she said, waving to the woman before setting off with her friend. To him, she asked, "What are we gonna do?"

"Well," he said simply, "we gotta find something to give Erza for her birthday. It'll be a good surprise, huh?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "But what?"

"I dunno," he said with a slight shrug. "But there has to be something that she'll like. We just gotta think some. Shouldn't be that hard, I don't think. I mean, she only likes a few things. Like…Fairy Tail."

"Right."

"And Jellal."

"That's true."

"And fighting."

"Sorta."

"And…I know!"

"What?"

"She really likes her weapons," he explained as the two headed out of the guildhall doors, planning to go play outside some. "Doesn't she?"

"A whole bunch."

"Well," the boy reasoned, "what if I got her new weapons?"

"That'd be cool," Marin agreed. "But what sorts of weapons could you get her?"

"I dunno," he said with a shrug. "I don't have any jewels. Do you?"

"Nope."

"Hmmm." They had taken to walking around the grounds then. "Maybe I can make her a weapon."

"Make her one?"

"Sure," the boy insisted. "I mean, weapons have to get made at some point, right? So, clearly, it's not too hard. I just gotta figure out how."

"Well," Marin said slowly. "A lot of weapons are made outta metal."

"We can't just find metal though," he told her. "We'd have to take it form something. And I don't have a lotta things to take metal from, so there's no way that we'd ever get enough. That was a nice idea though," he added, as he always did when he was talking to Marin. "What else are weapons made out of?"

"Uh, well," she began slowly, as if in deep thought. Then, with a giggle, she said, "I dunno."

"Erza makes Ravan use fake, wooden swords sometimes," he said then. "When she's teaching him something new."

"Hey," she said excitedly then. "We can get wood. There's wood everywhere!"

"But what can we make with wood?"

"I dunno. But I bet we can make something." Then, turning to run back to the guildhall, she said, "Let's go ask my dad if he'll take us back to my house. There's tons of trees and stuff there that we can get branches from. Then we can go from there."

Laxus really didn't want to walk them home though and, luckily, Lisanna was around and was heading back home to check on Bickslow and Ajax. She said she'd go there first and then send them back to Laxus' house with her husband.

Which Kai was pumped about. If there was anyone he liked it was, well, Ravan. And Erza. And Marin. And Robbie. But Bickslow was definitely up there too. He bought him some new clothes once. And he looked pretty funky, which entertained the young boy.

"Going to the boss's house, eh?" Bickslow asked as he walked along, Marin's hand holding tightly to his. Not that he minded. Kai was walking along on his other side and, randomly, would look up at the man, just to take in his visor, before giggling. He couldn't wait until he took it off! Then he would get to see his crazy hair and his tattoo. It would be awesome! "What's spurred this on?"

"We gotta collect wood," Marin told her uncle, glancing up at him also. "We're gonna make weapons."

"Weapons? We fightin' a war, kids?"

"No," she giggled as Kai grinned. "We just need to make some."

"Well," he said slowly as he glanced up at the sky, as if to think for a moment. "I used to be the master at making a good slingshot."

"Slingshot?" Kai repeated.

Nodding, the man said, "You just gotta get some sticks in the shape of a Y, yeah? And then you tie some rubber band on it and bam! You got a slingshot. Get some little pebbles, learn to aim, and you'll be a master in no time. Just don't shoot anyone's eyes out, kids."

So Bickslow helped them that day, make the slingshot. He was really happy with it too. He rather liked babysitting the kids for the most part. Then again, considering that they had about the same IQ as him, that wasn't such a stretch.

"You want me to make you one too, Marin?" Bickslow asked the little girl after they got Kai all set up with his. "Or do you want something else?"

"Something else?"

"A sword, of course!"

And then he found just the right sticks to use to tie in together, one lower on the other to form a cross-guard, before handing it off to his niece. Both kids were excited about their new toys, but quietly Marin reminded Kai that they weren't for them to keep; they were for Erza.

"But," the boy was quick to challenge, "she's gotta lotta swords. Maybe we can keep it and just give her the slingshot."

That made sense. So they had Bickslow make them another sword too, so that they both could have one to play with.

"Don't go bruising one another up," he warned. "Else the boss'll have my head. And I rather like my head, you know."

The swords were lots of fun. Eventually though, Bickslow took them back to the guildhall, them hiding away their new toys in Marin's room.

"I'll show Erza my slingshot later," he explain. "On her actual birthday. You can ask your mom when it is and tell me, right?"

"Of course."

And, honestly, for the next few days, they didn't think much about it. Marin was learning some new tricks with her magic and Kai was content with just sitting around watching her practice. Then, the other days, it was his turn to show her what he'd learned and have her watch him. And, of course, they had Ravan to contend with, who had some sort of big blow up with Marin's older sister and the other slayer's kids, who were his usual cohorts, leaving him with only his younger brother and Marin.

Not that they minded. There was no one that Kai thought more highly of than his big brother. And Marin rather liked the older boy too, as he was never mean to her like the others. He was kinda like Locke, just less…well, kind. He wouldn't tease her like Haven would, but he definitely wasn't pretending to be interested in the things that she had to say like Locke would be sometimes. No, Ravan was just…a big brother. That's what Kai told her. That he was rather cold towards him too at times, but he'd always look out for him. That was just a given.

Anyhow, eventually Erza's birthday rolled around and, lucky Kai, Ravan was out on a job when it came up. Which was great. He didn't want his brother to tease him about after all.

So, that morning, before Erza had a chance to head out of the house for her workout, Kai caught her.

"My," she remarked when he cornered her in the living room. "You are up early."

"It's a special day."

"Is it?" She frowned some. "Did I…Tell me I didn't promise to do something with you today. Because, Kai, I-"

"Nope," he said, shaking his head. It was then, there in her darkened living room, that she noticed he had his hands behind his back. "You didn't."

"Kai," she whispered slowly, staring him down then. "What are you holding?"

"Mmmm…it's a surprise."

"If it's some sort of animal or bug, we've talked about this."

"Nope." He shook his head again then before saying, "It's something for you."

"Something for me?"

"Uh-huh." He'd even remembered to get it from Marin's the day before. Moving to hold it out to her then, the little boy said, "Here. Happy birthday."

"Happy…What?"

"It's your birthday," he said as she slowly took the shoddily wrapped gift. "So I got you something. Err, I made it. With Marin's help."

"It's my…" Was it? "How did you-"

"Ms. Mirajane."

Of course.

With a sigh, Erza said, "I thank you, Kai, but-"

"Open it," he said then before kicking at the ground. "Or do you not wanna?"

"Yes, I do," she said slowly before moving to do so. "I was just shocked that you- Is this a…slingshot?"

"Yep!" He grinned happily up at her. "Because, you know, you're so good with all of your weapons. But you don't have one of those, do you? So I made you one!"

She blinked. Then she glanced at him. "I still am not sure why you-"

"You were actin' all funny," he told her then, losing some of his pep then. "So I asked Mirajane what was wrong and she said that it was probably 'cause your birthday was comin' up."

"My birthday," she whispered to which he nodded quickly.

"You know," he went on, kicking at the ground. "Since you're all old and junk. It's not that much fun for you. Because you're dying and getting old and nasty looking." When she didn't stay anything, he was quick to say, "But not to me! You look normal. Not nasty. Just…like Erza. You know, sometimes royalty and banana peelings are polar bears."

With a sigh, Erza looked over her new slingshot before saying, "I didn't not even realize it was my birthday, Kai, so-"

"But you were acting funny," he insisted. "You aren't buying me any sweets, you're training more and not being around to play with me-"

"So basically you're concerned with yourself."

"Hey, you're missing out on me too," he told her. "But if it wasn't your birthday-"

"It's rather personal-"

"I'm a person," he pointed out. "So you can tell me."

Shaking her head, Erza said, "It is actually rather simple. Occasionally Jellal and I are able to correspond over letters and, a few weeks ago, I received one saying that he would be in the area soon, but not soon after that, I received another telling me that something has come up and he has no idea when he'll be back. I suppose I have been…preoccupying myself with working out more. If you say that I have-"

"You have."

"Though," she added then, "I would rather you not keep such a watch over me-"

"I have to," he said with a shrug. "Who else would?"

"And I have not so much been cutting down on my sweets," she said slowly, "as I've been keeping them out of your reach."

"What? Why? You're not sharing? That's not friendly, Erza!"

Reaching over, she poked his tummy gently, making the boy giggle. "When I first met you and your brother, you were both half-starved, so perhaps I let it go with your workouts and your food intake. Your brother is able to regiment himself, but you...well, Kai, you are getting a tad pudgy."

Patting his own stomach, he said, "Not that bad."

"No, not that bad. But if you want to be a warrior, you must train more. Do you or do you not wish to be effective in battle?"

"I really like cookies."

"I know," she said. "But you will like being strong and fit much more."

"Like you?"

"Like me."

"I wanna be like Elfman! He's super cool! And manly."

"You are spending too much time with those girls and their family," she said simply before turning to throw away the wrapping on her slingshot. Then she said, "I suppose I should test this out then, right?"

"Right!"

So she let him take her out into the backyard where he quickly found her a small stone to use. But when Erza moved to pull back the slingshot, aiming for a tree across the yard, the stick snapped in half in her hand.

Kai only frowned heavily as Erza looked down at what was once a slingshot.

"I spent all that time letting Bickslow and Marin make it," he complained, crossing his arms. "I wanted to get you something special. That you'd use and would think of me and how great I am and how I'm the only real friend you have."

"That's a truly specific and very slanted desire," she sighed before going to pat him on the head. "It's alright. After all, Kai, it's the thought that counts. And for you to think so much of me is a tad…concerning, but sweet."

Sniffling some, he said, "I just wanted to make you happy again. About getting old and ugly and junk."

"And, as much as I wish you phrased that another way, I thank you for your attempt. And it has worked." She even smiled for him before holding up the broken slingshot. "I will keep this with me always."

"But it's broken," he pointed out. She decided not to mention to him that it wouldn't have mattered either way, as she wouldn't have truly been using it.

"Even broken things can be useful sometimes," she assured him, making the boy grin once more before running off. "Now where are you going?"

"We gotta go train, huh?" He was heading to the back gate then, glancing over his shoulder at her. "Then we can have cookies, right? Just for your birthday?"

Letting out a slight breath, Erza set off after him, not being able to wipe the smile from her face.

"Just for my birthday," she agreed.

 


End file.
